Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy Belle Malory (highly recommended books .txt) 📖

truck ground against the dark, empty highway. Resting my head against the window, I drifted off, my body growing heavy from the booze.

Goodbye? More like good riddance.

2

Minutes, hours, or maybe days passed in that truck—I wasn’t sure. I woke up here and there, but only for short moments at a time. I could tell by the mile markers we were headed south, still driving along the east coast.

When the engine finally quieted, I yawned and blinked through the sunlight to find out where we’d arrived. A red brick storefront called Ye Old English Pub and Brewery. It stood two stories tall and looked as if it had been there for the last century or two. The surrounding buildings were just as old and quaint, and the scent of salt hung in the air.

“Savannah,” I guessed, recognizing some of the sights and smells. Dad brought Riley and me down to visit at least once a year. “What are we doing here?” I said, wiping the sleep from my eyes.

Military school? Juvie? A psych ward? I was ready to know what had been planned for me.

Grandpa slid the keys out of the ignition and undid his seatbelt. He nodded to the pub. “This place belongs to close friends of mine, the McDerby family. We need a portal to get to where we’re going, and they happen to have one inside.”

“A…what?”

“A portal, Sheridan.”

That’s what I thought he said, but I’d hoped I heard him wrong. Now that we were away from Dad, I hoped he would drop the magic stuff for a while. Apparently not.

“Let’s just hope no one’s used it in the last six months. They only work about once a year. Twice, if you’re lucky. Hermes invention.” He rolled his eyes at the last part.

Wonderful. He even threw in another Greek god reference.

“When you say portal, what do you mean exactly?” Maybe he meant elevator.

“Portals exist on significant ley lines to allow quicker travel to places of magic.”

Nope. Definitely not an elevator.

“What happens if this one has already been used?”

“Then we have to find another.” His mustache twitched. “Or go the long way, which I’d rather avoid. We could also spell our own, but that’s tedious business. Not to worry though, the McDerby family rarely uses their portal. They prefer living with humans.”

Humans.

It felt like the name for a club that revoked my membership. Now I wasn’t sure what I was—Dad said we were mages. Or guardians. Whatever that meant.

“Why didn’t Dad tell me about all of this before?” It was a question I wanted to ask Dad in person, but I’d been too out of it when I left the house. Now that I had a while to reflect, I had more questions. And it pissed me off that he sent me away before giving me the chance to ask those questions.

I thought about all the times Dad droned on for hours about the Greek gods, never once mentioning our own family history, and Riley probably still didn’t know. I wanted to know why.

Grandpa rubbed his jaw, looking lost for words. “Your dad wanted to live an ordinary, human life. He planned on telling you and Riley eventually, when you were a little older. But there’s never really a right time for any of this.”

Ha! What a bullshit excuse. Dad was lucky he wasn’t here, or I’d try to set him on fire just for hiding the fact that I could.

“Give him a break,” Grandpa said, catching my glare. “Your dad only wanted the best for both you and your sister.”

“Come on, Grandpa. You can’t think hiding this was right.”

“It doesn’t matter what I agree with. Daniel is your father, and I had to respect his wishes.”

“But you don’t agree with him, do you?” I could see it in the way he was carefully holding back. He didn’t like the situation any better than I did.

“No,” he finally admitted with a sigh. “I wanted him to tell you earlier. I wanted him to raise you girls in Mythos too, but he chose to live in Davidson.”

“Mythos…” Earlier he mentioned the portal would take us to a place of magic. “Is that we’re going?”

He nodded, looking far more comfortable with the change of subject. “It’s a cluster of islands hidden in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. The islands are protected by enchanted barriers, which means portals can’t give us direct entrance. This particular one is a gateway to the Mythos Line Ferry, the only means of transport into Mythos.”

Enchanted islands.

Magical portals.

Three mysterious Fates.

Okay. I could process this without freaking out. Deep breath.

“I’ll grab your trunk and head on in.” Grandpa got out on his side, seeming to sense I was having a hard time. Before shutting the door, he said, “You, ah, might want to use the mirror overhead.”

The door shut, and the mirror dropped in front of me. Oh dear god. I looked like a zombified raccoon. My eyes were swollen, surrounded by smudged mascara. My hair stuck up in all kinds of weird places. And my skin was blotchy from crying. My makeup had been stuffed somewhere in my suitcase, but the more I stared at myself, the more I didn’t care about the person in the reflection.

“You deserve to look crazy,” I whispered, and for a moment I let my mind go where it shouldn’t.

I could still hear Riley’s screams. Before the fire started, our fight had gotten out of control. I wasn’t sure when it got as bad as it did; the entire night blurred together in a storm of rage, cursing, and violence. Riley was taller, in better shape, and she should have easily demolished my ass.

But something inside of me had been unleashed, amplifying my strength. I remembered the terrified look in her eyes as I shoved the scissors into her shoulder. Feeling them dig into her flesh gave me satisfaction I didn’t know I was capable of feeling. I could’ve killed her, wanted to kill her, but I didn’t. Just a few